UFO Zapped Police Car

A bright object that was glowing in the air apparently zapped into the squad car, engulfed it in light, and left the deputy driver Val Johnson unable to see. The incident happened in the early morning hours on an isolated road. The officer was then treated for the type of eye injury a welder might experience.

Both car’s lock and the officer’s watch had stopped, aerials had warped, and the windscreen was cracked. The case has a resemblance to the glowing orb UFOs that reportedly hounded motorists and stopped clocks and engines during the 1960s and 70s in Warminster, Wiltshire, UK. But none of these previous sightings finished so violently.

Although the incident we are talking here took place on August 27, 1972, investigators have yet to come up with a decent explanation, making the incident still a big mystery.

The involved vehicle is now on display at the Marshall County Museum in north Michigan. It still has the original damage. President of the Marshall Country Historical Society, Kent Broten, said that the deputy saw a bright object around three and a half feet off the ground, and maybe like a foot in diameter. The light just shot at the officer, engulfed the car in light, and blinded him, added Broten.

Another deputy at the time, Herb Maustad, said he remained baffled by the incident, which has gone down in local folklore. He said the antennas of the car were bent at different angles, the windscreen and the headlight were smashed, and the hood dented. He said that Deputy Johnson’s watch and the dashboard clock stopped for 14 minutes before they started up again.

Maustad said that Ford Motor Company inspected the windscreen and an expert from that company described the cracking as strange, not the same shattering as a result of a hammer hit on the windshield.

Reminds me of the time I experienced (and published about in 2008, in my book RattleSnake Fire) a “basketball-sized” (about 1 foot, as described here) brilliant light sparkling and dancing around in front of my car from a few feet to maybe 20 feet off the ground, zig-zagging playfully, also out in the country. After dancing in the air for maybe 5-10 seconds, ahead and to the right of my car, it just disappeared – thankfully.